Baxter Dury – Allbarone Review 

No, not All Bar One. Baxter Dury is too cutting edge, too outstanding to mean such a place. Still, if he meant the Harrogate-based drinking spot, then it is the right place to reach into the darkness. Hives of tight-cut polo shirts and vaguely thought-out tattoo sleeves. A need to answer your texts, too, the always online focus and the horror of having the internet in your pocket is weighing heavily. Allbarone is a punchy thrill ride, as should be expected as Dury builds towards his album of the same name. London-based encounters, the love which means we are ahead of ourselves, building a new life in our heads as the phone goes unanswered. These are the very real chills and spills of this latest Dury song, produced by studio veteran Paul Epworth. The highs and lows of life can be tracked to the Tube.  

For those who had the pleasure of seeing Dury live in the past, Allbarone fits right in. But it does not become part of the furniture, it creates an electrified urgency which he hinted at on I Thought I Was Better Than You. There is still the distaste for others, for the self and those forgotten promises, which featured so frequently on The Night Chancers. Tech-infused brilliance, which is as much a credit to the return of Epworth as it is the consistency, the clarity, and ever-creatively tinged pursuit of Dury. Allbarone rejects the consequences of planning too far ahead, accepts the lightheaded spiral of loved-up encounters which burn brightly. We ought to do it at some point in our lives, and for Allbarone, the dizzying encounters with someone worthy of obsession, of total infatuation, are clear. Put yourself in the position Dury writes from on this latest single, and life gets a bit more fearsome, a tad lucid, too.  

Dury has often been a mood-setting phenomenon. He has the dark heart necessary to carry deeper beats, such as Allbarone. His observant style becomes clear once more, and it marks a welcome continuation of a style listeners will be familiar with. For newcomers, this serves as an excellent entry point. A slightly larger reliance on the instrumental excess, the whirring uproar it creates, the desire of one person to know if another is headed to a communal place, a place tinged by desperation and fear of the future, it would seem. Once more, the great strength of a Dury track comes from the microscopic details, the bits which are not the focus but the setup. Piccadilly line woes and the desire for an advance, a moment of intimacy never promised, are heard.  

A promising start for this new creative chapter, but what else would you expect from Dury? His twisted dance moves creep in from the back of the mind, the flailing arms and self-confidence we all strive for as we are pushed and pulled to the tunes of the times. Allbarone is a catchy piece on the surface, but it holds great value, an important and ever-present weight to its wordplay. We are what we make of ourselves and, often, the overthinking pockets, the deep recesses of our mind, overwhelm and plan out a hopeful future which hinges on a choice call or a well-worded text. Those biting anxieties are mused on well by Dury, who blurs the electronic excitement with the ever-present, nagging heart. A thrill ride is what we are in for with Allbarone as new words, fresh sounds, spill out of Dury.